A quick international patent search indicates why DuPont took such interest in Danisco. It also helps to see who's active in this avenue: Toyota, Honda, Oji Paper, Hitachi and Novozyme popped up. Japanese and Chinese private and university research groups appear to dominate the field, but Canadian and US groups also feature high in the roughly 200 patents uncovered using the two words "cellulosic biomass".
In summary, DuPont/Danisco and Novozyme are naturally expected to lead enzyme development and sales, but we should expect future competition from Asia. Oil groups appear to be absent, but an interesting finding is the efforts by two leading Japanese auto manufacturers to investigate cellulosic ethanol production. The absence of leading grain traders may only suggest that their piorities are elsewhere (ie optimising the use of existing feedstocks, which include cane sugar).
Of course patents are only an early indicator of who has invested in the technology, not who the established players years will be...as licencing agreements, joint ventures and M&A will also play an important role in establishing the structure of an industry [that is set to move to 2nd generation biomass]. The main question is: when is cellulosic ethanol's share of world's bioethanol going to be visible?
Source: espacenet
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